Skywatch Line for Friday, June 2, through Sunday, June 4, 2023

This is Dudley Observatory’s Skywatch Line for Friday, June 2, through Sunday, June 4, written by Sam Salem.

On Friday, Sun rises at 5:19am and sets at 8:28pm; Moon sets at 4:01am and rises at 7:12pm. Full Moon occurs on Saturday at 11:43pm. Look for orange Antares just 3° or 4° to the Moon’s upper right on Saturday evening. Upper right of Antares by 7½° is Delta Scorpii, about half as bright but less blasted by moonlight. Delta Sco is the middle, and brightest, of the three stars forming the head of Scorpius. Use binoculars to help you pull these stars out of the bright moon glare.

On Friday, after dark Mars shines inside the Beehive cluster, M44, near the central beehive-shaped asterism itself. The asterism is currently tilted right. Mars is moving east across the cluster at about 90 arcseconds per hour. Use binoculars to get a good look at some of the 1,000 stars in the Beehive. While you can spot the cluster with your eyes alone, they will appear as a misty patch.

Mars appears as a big, bright ruby surrounded by tiny diamonds of distant stars.

To find Mars, look for brilliant Venus in the west, at magnitude -4.3. The twin stars in Gemini, Pollux and Castor stretch out to one side of Venus.

You can see Venus during the day. Now is a good time to look for Venus before sunset. When Venus is near its greatest brilliancy, it’s easiest to spot shining out from a blue sky. Venus is currently an evening object, so you can find it before sunset as soon as you can block out the Sun before it sets.

Jupiter, at magnitude –2.1 in the constellation of Aries, is emerging from the bright glow of sunrise. Look for it low in the east about 40 minutes before sunup.

Saturn, at magnitude +1.0 in dim constellation of Aquarius, is well up in the southeast at the beginning of dawn.

Vega is the brightest star in the east-northeast after dark. Look 14°, or about a fist and a half at arm’s length, to Vega’s upper left for Eltanin, the 2nd-magnitude nose of Draco the Dragon. Closer above and upper left of Eltanin are the three fainter stars forming the rest of Draco’s stick-figure head, also called the Lozenge; the faintest of them is 4th magnitude. Draco always points his nose to Vega.